The University of Wyoming women’s volleyball team became the third in the nation to forfeit a game to San Jose State this season.
One always hesitates to link to the NY Post since it’s hardly an exemplar of non biased reporting, but the mainstream media won’t touch the story. ESPN’s coverage, for example, doesn’t mention the transgender angle at all. It’s just “huh, another team decided to forfeit with no reason given.”
A person might reasonably wonder if these schools are making a principled stand against faux women playing on women’s teams, and they well may be, but there’s also a strong component of player safety. Men hit volleyballs significantly harder and faster than women.
Brooke Slusser, a member of San Jose’s women’s volleyball team, joined 18 other athletes in suing the NCAA over its current gender identity policies.
The lawsuit alleged Slusser, who transferred to San Jose, felt concerned for her safety after realizing one of her new teammates was transgender.
…“Brooke estimates that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upward of 80 mph, which was faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball,” Slusser’s complaint read. “The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but still could not fully protect themselves.”
San Jose State may not be breaking any NCAA rules (because the NCAA has been spineless on this), but they’re certainly violating the spirit of women’s sports which is to say that women’s sports are for women.
Update: Utah State University has also declined to play San Jose State, becoming the fourth school to do so. I’m linking here to the rightwing Daily Wire, again because no mainstream media will cover this issue.